This invention relates to a method for processing of a silver halide color photographic material (hereinafter abbreviated as photographic material), particularly to a method for stabilizing processing without carrying out the step of washing with water subsequent to the desilverization step.
An exposed color photographic material is basically processed with a color developing step, bleaching and fixing steps (or bleach-fixing step), and it is further worked with water or processed with a liquid stabilizer.
In recent years, in a photo-finisher which carries out developing processing of photographic materials automatically and continuously, the problems of protection of environments and water resources are regarded as important, and it is desired to reduce a large amount of washing water employed in the water washing step preferably to zero. For this purpose, there have been proposed techniques to carry out stabilizing processing directly after fixing or bleach-fixing processing without performing washing with water. For example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publications Nos. 8542/1982, 132146/1982, 14834/1982 and 18631/1983 disclose techniques for processing with liquid stabilizer containing isothiazoline derivatives, benzisothiazoline derivatives, soluble iron complexes, polyaminocarboxylic acid or organic phosphonic acids.
These techniques concern methods for inhibiting or preventing the problems caused by the fixing or bleach-fixing components brought into the liquid stabilizer by the photographic material. These techniques are not practically useful when continuous processing is performed for a long time. Particularly, there is involved the drawback that yellow stain at the unexposed portion in the photographic material during prolonged storage after processing is increased.
Also, as another problem, when stabilizing processing without washing with water is conducted continuously for a long term, stain immediately after processing at the unexposed portion is found to be increased disadvantageously, irrespectively of the amount of the fixing and bleach-fixing components entrained into the liquid stabilizer.